Where will the original comic art market be in 20 years? Predictions anyone?

[LuckyCantor-migration]

Is it just me or is there alot of modern stuff that is over-priced? I find it incredulous that a Kane Batman daily strip from the 40's gets almost as much as some new artsits. Anyone willing to go out on a limb and guess what the market will look like in the future?

[Thomas]

This is a tough one and I am only speculating since my crystal ball isn't working right now but I'd speculate that the market will only go up. I think that the historic pieces will catch up in value to modern stuff. I'd think it would anyways.

 

I mean I look at 20 year old pages by popular artists with major characters that aren't being drawn anymore and so there's a finite supply, sell for a couple hundred while modern stuff that is being drawn month after month in a continuous stream, selling in the thousands. How can this happen?

 

I can't explain it and I don't see the pricing dropping on the modern stuff so can only speculate that the older stuff needs to correct itself to the market. Luckily for us that we're still able to acquire these older pieces at reasonable prices for the most part. I bet that in 20 years all the new guys into the hobby will be thinking how lucky we were to be able to collect back when stuff was cheap like I know a lot of us, myself included, feel about a lot of the collectors that have been in this hobby for a while. It's a cyclical effect.

 

This is all speculation though and the best advice I have received and can give out is to purchase what you like and can live with paying that way no matter how the OA market performs, you are still happy with owning and displaying the pieces in your collection. I really think that's a key aspect of this hobby.

[jimjum12]

This is not a good analogy,but when Maris broke the Babe's single season homerun record he had more games to do it in.Newer record breakers are purported to have benefited from other conditions unavailable to Ruth.New art in the Comics feild is difficult to compare to the vintage stuff because modern artists have the advantage of short term contracts signed way in advance that gives them considerably more time to produce the same page that Kane did.They also benefit from a greater wealth of inspiration,better production values,and superior equipment(with the exception of the Windsor Newton brush....perfection).It kind of makes Kane's full page the equivilant of a detailed preliminary compared to a finished engraving.It's almost unfair to compare the two periods.I think the original art market will still be there after I'm gone.GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[aardvark88]

20 years from now there won't be much pen & ink comic book artwork to buy from 2007. Seems like the trend today is towards pencils on small 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper which is then finished on a computer. e.g. Carey Nord's Dark Horse Conan or Brian Bolland.

[jimjum12]

As a long time FF fan,the stuff by Greg Land blows me away.As an artist who actually had one comic published( Ruck Bud Webster and his Screeching

Commandos...Pyramid Productions) I know that there is NO WAY that some of the brilliant work turned out today could be produced within the deadline constraints that the gold, silver, and bronze greats were subjected to.Luckily I admire it all.I believe you're absolutely right about the future.The days of the amazing craftsmanship of someone like Frazetta are almost gone.And we know what that means as far as supply and demand goes.GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[jjeanius]

Prices on modern art are certainly in no small part a result of the ever increasing prices on key vintage material. Add to that the fact that the hobby is growing by leaps and bounds, and that many new collectors are focusing on getting pages from current series they enjoy rather than chasing the classics, and I think it's easy to see why the new stuff (especially QUALITY new stuff) is selling for such good money. In the future, I think "average" material will stay quite the same, as there is an incredible over-abundance of $20-$60 pages that nobody wants (the OA equivalent of quarter bin comics), but anything worthwhile (covers, splashes, pages from key series, etc) will continue to appreciate in value. The supply isn't changing, but the demand sure does seem to be escalating. If there's a market crash on the horizon, I think it will really only affect lower end material. Quality will always be in high demand and short supply.

[jimjum12]

I know one thing,a choice Carlos Pacheco FF splash would sure be NICE.GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[COI]

I find it incredulous that a Kane Batman daily strip from the 40's gets almost as much as some new artsits

 

I get so tired of reading stuff like this. Has it ever occured to anyone that some people(myself included) are actually buying art based on aesthetics, and not historical significance?

 

Is it so far fetched that I would rather own this

 

 

instead of this?

 

[COI]

mean I look at 20 year old pages by popular artists with major characters that aren't being drawn anymore and so there's a finite supply, sell for a couple hundred while modern stuff that is being drawn month after month in a continuous stream, selling in the thousands. How can this happen?

 

I like the fact that you can head to your LCS weekly, pick up the titles you enjoy reading, and go seek out some of the art from those very same books. It's a way of feeling connected to what you're buying, and it keeps future collecting exciting because you never know what your favorite artists could be working on next or how many great pieces of art are in the works. It's a different segment of OA collecting with tremendous appeal to some of us.

[Thomas]

mean I look at 20 year old pages by popular artists with major characters that aren't being drawn anymore and so there's a finite supply, sell for a couple hundred while modern stuff that is being drawn month after month in a continuous stream, selling in the thousands. How can this happen?

 

I like the fact that you can head to your LCS weekly, pick up the titles you enjoy reading, and go seek out some of the art from those very same books. It's a way of feeling connected to what you're buying, and it keeps future collecting exciting because you never know what your favorite artists could be working on next or how many great pieces of art are in the works. It's a different segment of OA collecting with tremendous appeal to some of us.

 

Yeah I see your point. I never thought of that aspect since I don't collect or read comics anymore. Weird eh? I love the artwork, I even buy modern stuff from comics I've never even read just because I like the art. In fact in my entire collection I've only read the comic to one page I own. Now that seems weird.

[westform]

No, it's not.

 

When I started collecting the same was often said about small size art compared to large art. Why would anyone even own it? No historical significance, nothing of note happened after Kirby left Marvel the first time....

 

 

 

I find it incredulous that a Kane Batman daily strip from the 40's gets almost as much as some new artsits

 

I get so tired of reading stuff like this. Has it ever occured to anyone that some people(myself included) are actually buying art based on aesthetics, and not historical significance?

 

Is it so far fetched that I would rather own this

 

 

instead of this?

 

[LuckyCantor-migration]

I find it incredulous that a Kane Batman daily strip from the 40's gets almost as much as some new artsits

 

I get so tired of reading stuff like this. Has it ever occured to anyone that some people(myself included) are actually buying art based on aesthetics, and not historical significance?

 

Is it so far fetched that I would rather own this

 

 

instead of this?

 

 

You actually are tired of reading stuff like this? Than take a nap dear chap. No reason to get your panties caught in a wad.

 

I still think stuff like what you posted is drek and will not stand the test of time. That was my point. I never insinuated that a Kane purchase was purely a historical purchase, I believe aesthetically the art you posted by Kane IS superior to the modern drek you posted. That is just my honest opinion. I think alott of people get caught up in their own generational art, which is cool, but that is not a flight to aethetic quality in and ofitself. Kane, Ditko, Kirby, Romita have stood the test of time to date and there is justification for a develpoed market on their works. When new artists set their opening prices at comparable prices to where the old masters left off,..there is a very strong possibility that prices on Modern stuff will not in the long run be able to sustain itself. That was my sole point.

 

PS - That Kane piece you posted is 100 times more impressive (to me) than the piece you posted in comparison.

[tth2]

PS - That Kane piece you posted is 100 times more impressive (to me) than the piece you posted in comparison.

[LuckyCantor-migration]

PS - That Kane piece you posted is 100 times more impressive (to me) than the piece you posted in comparison.

 

Thats just my opinion, not spoiling for a fight.

 

Is it not obvious? Lets take a poll

[Darrell F]

Modern Batman piece. I would love to have a piece from the Hush arc by Jim Lee. I would sell off most of my collection of comics for it.

[blowout]

I believe aesthetically the art you posted by Kane IS superior to the modern drek you posted. That is just my honest opinion.

 

And that is all it is, your OPINION.

 

Personally I find the Jim Lee piece much more aesthetically pleasing and the art is clearly more sophisticated and realistically rendered. But that is just my OPINION.

 

Art is very subjective, and I think your views as compared with those held by CaptainsOfIndustry illustrate that quite well.

[COI]

I believe aesthetically the art you posted by Kane IS superior to the modern drek you posted.

 

Regardless of your tastes, statements like this calling the Jim Lee piece "drek" just because it has become the catch word to use whenever referring to anything contemporary, shows that you have little to no capacity to respect or apreciate different styles of art other than what you like. Typical of the "what I like/collect is superior, what you collect is cr ap" crowd, and is the height of ignorance.

[Kevin76]

I'd rather have the Jim Lee Batman over the Kane strip anyday. I'm not that big of a Kane fan.

[jjeanius]

I believe aesthetically the art you posted by Kane IS superior to the modern drek you posted.

 

Regardless of your tastes, statements like this calling the Jim Lee piece "drek" just because it has become the catch word to use whenever referring to anything contemporary, shows that you have little to no capacity to respect or apreciate different styles of art other than what you like. Typical of the "what I like/collect is superior, what you collect is cr ap" crowd, and is the height of ignorance.

 

Well said. I am not a Bob Kane fan, and while I prefer the Jim Lee piece by a mile even though I'm not a huge Lee fan either, I certainly wouldn't refer to the Kane piece as "drek". To each their own.

[LuckyCantor-migration]

Perhaps 'drek' was a poor word choice and arguably insulting and if so I apologize. I think I was just riled by Captains attack on my post to begin with. That said, the Modern Batman piece is sacharine & melodramatic (to me). I see nothing appealing aesthetically in the poses which seem contorted or the over-all presentation. The Kane piece on the other hand is rendered simplistically and brings me into the world o comics from a by-gone era. I honestly see ZERO comparison in terms of that which I would rather have, and yes, that is merely my opinion and not the be-all of anything.

 

However, Kane's work IS historically relevant on top of its aethetic worth and has 'withstood the test of time' (heck, if it werent for Kane there'd be no Batman). My point was to highlight the fact that I just cant understand how Modern UNPROVEN artists can garner similar amounts of money to established historical legends. The HG Wonder Woman piece that Halperin snagged in the latest auction is another example of yesrerdays work selling way too low, imo, in comparison with UNPROVEN contempraries.

 

It just seems to me alot of newbies are getting into this hobby and making what I perceive to be 'beginners mistakes' (yes, I know that might seem harsh as the adage is 'buy what they like'). I guess at bottom, I just feel there is alot of new money coming into this hobby that is not looking at the past but fixated only in the present. I think alot of people will be sad when their new art doesnt maintain its value in the coming decades and I think that there is a value associated with history and 'track records' that many new collectors are incorrectly dismissing. JMHO.